


From the Wreckage

by Rythen



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/M, Spoilers, mentions of Emerald and Mercury, pumpkin spice ice cream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 16:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6431794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rythen/pseuds/Rythen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bits of flashbacks and Neo dealing with the horrors of Volume 3. Basically.<br/>A very sad ice cream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From the Wreckage

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Tumblr.  
> This made me sad to write.

They never intended to live very long.

They didn't plan to die young, that was the job of the huntresses and huntsmen, but a long life was simply not in a life of crime.

_It was raining. No, raining was not a very good word for it - it was closer to pouring. Naturally it could be worse, but it could be much better as well; the umbrella held by shaky hands was old and worn, the rain heavy enough where the small figure under the canopy was still getting wet. Her clothes were not in much better shape, her tri-colored hair messy and unkempt, with dark circles under eyes that appeared to be far too young to be so exhausted. She sat on a bench outside a storefront - closed, for now, as it was late in the night - mind shut out to the world around her, oblivious to the footsteps that approached._

_"You seem awfully young to be out on your own."_

_If she stayed silent, he would walk away, and so she remained unmoving, as though she had not heard a word he had spoken to her. Much to her dismay, he did not leave. Actually, he got closer, and this was not something she was keen on dealing with. In a flash she stood, umbrella closed and poised offensively, pointed at his throat. It was a blunt object, sure, but damage could still be done, and she had done enough fighting in her past to know how to cause it. She was forced to face him now - red hair, green eyes, clothes nice but not fancy, and he did not appear to be much older than she was. He also did not appear to be a Huntsman, although she knew he would not be a pushover._

_He grinned. He was being threatened and he_ grinned. __

_"You're not entirely some helpless child, but here you are - dirty, cold, and hungry."_

_Her anger flared. Naturally her eyes were a heterochromic mix of brown and pink - brown left, pink right - but now they had swapped places. He was talking too much, and so she thrust her arm forward in an attempt to silence him._

_He dodged it, but did not run. They always ran when she began to attack, but he was sticking around._

_"Easy now, you could hurt someone with that. Well, you could, but you're too slow. You can't fight the same way you see huntresses and huntsmen do, you're small, you need to use that to your advantage."_

_She lowered her umbrella, staring at the stranger a bit perplexed. Was he... trying to help her fight?_

_"Look, I know you're not just some lost child waiting for her parents. You left somewhere, right? Ran away? I'd be willing to help you out - teach you how to fight, how to survive - but it won't be, ah how do I say this... it won't be the righteous path of a huntress, if you get what I mean."_

_One eyebrow raised, her eyes blinking to reveal the colors in her irises had returned to their default state. The rain had not slowed, but it was long forgotten. Possibly against her better judgement, she nodded. His intentions did not appear to be malicious, and there was something about him that she felt she could trust._

_He held out his hand to her, "Roman."_

_She glanced at it for a second before shaking on this new agreement, unused voice shaky and hoarse._

_"Neo."_

She had attempted to land gracefully, but wound up crumpling to the ground in pain instead. Everything ached, and as much as she wanted to spend time nursing her wounds, she had more important things to do - she had to get back to Roman. Vale was far too dangerous at the moment, teeming with grimm, filled with huntsmen, and whatever was left of the White Fang lackeys. Cinder would not be coming to their rescue. It was likely she did not even plan that the criminal duo would survive the night, seeing as how disposable the two of them were. 

Pain surged through her body as she began walking back towards the military ship. Her aura would do it's job soon enough, and she had no plans to begin running until then. Besides, it was just one girl. One weak, overzealous, stupid girl.

They'd killed huntsmen more intimidating than her.

_Weeks had passed since their first meeting. Everything had become a bit more casual between them, although Neo was still reserved, hardly ever speaking, but the pair had begun to learn sign language to make up for it. He had only asked her once why she never spoke, and never had again. It was something she did not want to talk about, and he seemed to respect that. Small robberies here and there kept them fed and clothed, and daily trips to the Emerald Forest gave her time to train and develop her own fighting style._

_Months passed, and the two had begun to grow closer. Friends, maybe, but certainly they had become partners. She was natural in combat, and ruthless at that. Although she had never spoken about her past, Roman knew that she had demons greater than his own. Some nights she would have nightmares, others she would be unable to sleep at all. At least, she could not sleep on her own. He would wake up to see his partner curled at his side, sleeping peacefully._

_Years passed, and the two were nigh inseparable. They had become fairly notorious criminals in Vale, every heist carefully planned and executed. With the money they had earned from stolen goods and Lien, they had been able to purchase custom weapons. A cane for Roman, and a parasol for Neo. She had, after all, practiced her own fighting style with her old umbrella, and it was about time they had replaced it with something better. Fancier, stronger, and deadly. Roman, although formidable in combat, much preferred to keep his range, and thus his cane doubled as a ranged gun shooting dust bullets. Neo, however, relished in close quarters combat and often acted as the defensive of the pair - and so the crown of the parasol was practically indestructible; they had yet to find a dust combination that would damage it. Her favorite aspect, however, was the blade hidden inside. The blade could either extend out from the weapon's end, or she could draw the blade as though the parasol was merely the sheath._

She saw the explosion. Everyone in Vale had seen, or at least felt, the explosion. The general's ship - the very ship Roman had been on - had crashed into the ground. Neo's eyes turned stark white in this moment. It was one of the few times she had felt true fear.

Her aura was not done, but that did not matter now. She burst into a run, either managing to avoid Huntsmen and Grimm along the way, or simply passing them by. Surely he had been farther back on the ship, farther away from the part that slammed full force into the planet. He had to be safe. Roman Torchwick would not have been bested by a child, especially not one as sickeningly virtuous as Little Red was. 

With each step towards the rubble, she felt her hope begin to fade, felt a lump in her throat that only sank lower into the pit of her stomach. Everything was on fire. Absolutely everything.

She saw her life burn away in that fire.

She knew there was no point in digging through the wreckage, even if he had survived the crash, he would not have survived the inferno that she witnessed. No, she knew deep down that he had not even made it to the crash. Somehow she knew - before she even began to run - that he was already gone.

He had already left her.

_She didn't like this woman. They had only just met, and Neo knew she couldn't be trusted. The way she spoke, the way she walked, even the expression on her face - they all implied that this woman in red believed she was above everyone else in the room. Two others stood a few feet behind her, both younger than Neo._

_The one in grey was the more interesting of the two. He was cold, distant, and seemed dangerous, which intrigued her. It seemed he was around more for fun than any sort of personal gain, which was something Neo could respect to an extent. This extent ended when it came to the woman he had decided to work for._

_Her other companion was a dark-skinned woman with green hair, and was easily the weakest of the trio. Easily she had the least threatening presence in the room, appearing to be no more than a pickpocket at best. Still, there must be a reason she was there, as the lady in red would not keep worthless company. What caught her eye most about this girl was the way she held herself when the red woman spoke. There were small, discreet changes in how she stood when the woman spoke as opposed to when Roman spoke. The thief must have noticed that Neo was looking, red eyes catching heterochromic gaze as the shorter woman flashed a predatory grin. Neo always grinned. It not only unnerved others, but most of the time, she was legitimately enjoying herself. Or, at least, she was faking it._

_Right now she was faking it._

_The thief broke the gaze fairly quickly, turning her attention back to the conversation at hand._

_Neo was half paying attention when she noticed the way Roman shifted Melodic Cudgel in his hand. That was his cue for her to actually start listening._

_"So what you're saying here is that I'll stay behind in Vale stealing all the dust in the kingdom while Neo here accompanies you to Mistral, posing undercover as a student in Haven?"_

_"That's correct."_

_"And if we refuse?"_

_The air in the room suddenly became warm. Warm and dangerous. With a blink, Neo's eyes went white, returning to their normal shade with a second blink, the grin on her face fading. Refusal was not an option, only compliance. Roman's composure faltered only slightly, the corner of his lips twitching, which only prompted a sinister grin from the woman standing across from him._

_How Neo would love to drive her blade through that pretty little neck of hers._

_"I'm glad we could come to an agreement, Roman. You have a week from today to begin preparations. We will be departing for Haven at that time."_

She had collapsed onto her knees in front of the wreckage in disbelief. They were supposed to survive the attack, retreat back to Vale, and await the next set of orders. Or, better yet, flee entirely from Cinder's control. Things had not gone how they were supposed to. Not in the slightest. Everything felt numb now, and she had barely even noticed the flash of light emanating from the top of the tower.

Instead, her mind had settled on what she had to do.

Drying off tears she didn't even know she had shed, she stood up, activating her semblance to appear as the same girl that had fought in the Vytal Festival tournament, complete with Haven Academy uniform. Her parasol accompanied her as she began fleeing in the direction of a pair of huntsmen who helped her evacuate.

It wasn't hard to find the information she had been seeking - she had a name and a picture, all she needed was a location, and with the CCT down, she had all the time in the world.

Ruby Rose.

She was the reason that Roman was dead.

Neo would kill her, or she would die trying.


End file.
